Insider Preview - Texas Brahmas at Odessa Jackalopes

The Brahmas are on the road for game five of the regular season series tonight

The Southern Conference-leading Texas Brahmas (34-12-4, 72 points) are at the Ector County Coliseum for the first time this season tonight to take on the Odessa Jackalopes (31-13-6, 68 points). The Brahmas are coming off three straight wins, including last night's dominant 5-2 victory over the Laredo Bucks.

The two teams have met five times at NYTEX this season. The Brahmas won the first game, a pre-season exhibition, 3-2 in overtime. In the regular season, the Brahmas won by a score of 7-3 on October 25th but lost 5-2 on November 8th. The Brahmas then won two in a row on February 13th (3-2) and February 14th (4-3 shootout).

After tonight, the two teams will play once more this season, on March 7th at NYTEX.

The Jackalopes, down four points in the race for conference champion won their first game since January 30th last night, rallying in the third period for a 6-3 win at home against the Amarillo Gorillas. They had lost the previous six games including two in a row against the Brahmas last weekend.

Odessa is 14-5-3 at home this season. They are 7-1-0 when leading after one at home and 11-0-0 when leading after two at home. This season, the Brahmas are 8-0-1 when leading after one on the road and 9-0-1 when leading after two on the road. I'd like to see the Brahmas get the first goal tonight; how about you?

The Jackalopes' top three scorers are Dominic Leveille (F) with 73 points (23 G, 50 A), Sebastien Thinel (F) with 71 points (30 G, 41 A) and Kory Karlander (F) with 56 points (26 G, 30 A). On Special teams, the Jacks are ranked 2nd in the league overall on the powerplay at 22.2% and 2nd at home at 23.8%. The Jacks are first in the league with 87 powerplay goals for. On the penalty kill, Odessa is ranked fourth in the league overall at 85.5% and 9th at home at 83.7%.

Dominic Leveille is the player to watch on the Jackalopes squad. In the last 10 games, Leveille has scored 15 points (7 G, 8 A) and is a +5. At home, he has scored 34 points (9 G, 25 A) this season and is a +2.

The top three scorers for the Brahmas are Scott Sheppard (F) with 57 points (29G, 28 A), Grant Jacobsen (F) with 48 points (18 G, 30 A) and Jordan Cameron (F) with 46 points (17 G, 29 A). On special teams, the Brahmas are ranked third in the league overall on the powerplay at 19.5% and fifth on the road at 19.7%. On the penalty kill, the Brahmas leave something to be desired as they are ranked 12th in the league overall at 81.0% and 14th on the road at 75.6%. The Brahmas remain the league leaders with 14 short-handed goals.

Jason Deitsch is the man to watch on the Brahmas squad. In the last 10 games, Deitsch has scored 11 points (7 G, 4 A) and is a +6. He has scored 30 points (13 G, 17 A) in total and is a +14 this season. Another to watch is Scott Sheppard, who leads the road warriors this season with 26 points (18 G, 8 A) and is a +3 when travelling.

If overtime is necessary, it is notable that the Jackalopes are 0-3 in OT and the Brahmas are 5-1. The Jacks are 3-2 in shootouts and the Brahmas are 2-3.

Juha Toivonen (10-4-2-1) is likely to get the start in net for the Jackalopes with Alexandre Vincent out on goaltender IR since February 7th. Toivonen is 10th in the league with a 2.83 GAA and 13th with a .901 save percentage. He has one win against the Brahmas this season.

David Cacciola (9-6-0-1) will be in the net for the Brahmas tonight. Watch for relief goaltender Cody Daniel on the bench tonight.

The Jackalopes will be without forward Marc Rechlicz and defenseman Dave Van Drunen, both still out on the 30-day injured reserve. Goaltender Alexandre Vincent also remains listed on the IR.

The Brahmas will be without forward Matt Quinn and defenseman Eric Lundberg. Brett Jaeger will also be off the ice tonight. He did not travel with the team to Odessa in order to tend to a personal matter.

This should be a good one. The game starts at 7:05pm and will be broadcast on Nifty-TV.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith